Thu, 25 Jan 2018 17:45:45 +0000
By ANNIE ZULU in Shiwangandu
“I AM sorry for the poor implementation of the PRE inaugural Electronic Voucher system (E-Voucher), but the system is here to stay,” President Edgar Lungu has told farmers.
President Lungu said government would not go back to the old system of giving farmers agricultural inputs using the manual system.
The President said this in Shiwangandu when he addressed civil servants and Patriotic Front (PF) officials at Muntanga Lodge. “The E-voucher is here to stay. And I want to apologise to all those affected by the poor implementation of the E-Voucher. It is a new system so bear with us,” President Lungu said.
He said government would not backtrack on the E-Voucher because the system was meant to protect farmers and government resources.
“Some people were stealing Government resources using the old method. Thieves are not happy at all with this E-Voucher system. They are doing all they can to make it (e voucher) fail so that we can abandon it and revert to the old one,” he said.
The Head of State assured farmers country wide that government would in the next farming season do better in implementing the E-voucher system.
Meanwhile, President Lungu has advised civil servants to respect PF officials.
He has also told party officials not to threaten civil servants as they carry out their duties.
“I am head of Government as well as the party. Like a coin, I head both sides. So I know how civil servants work and how politicians work. Please complement each other and stop fighting. The letters you write and reports you give me indicate what you are,” President Lungu said.
